


Whispers in the Dark

by DivineNoodles



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Blue Lion Spoilers, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Flashbacks, M/M, Mental Instability, Mid-Timeskip, Prison
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 19:35:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20981243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DivineNoodles/pseuds/DivineNoodles
Summary: In a pit within the northern reaches of Faerghus, Dimitri wastes away, without hope or purpose. Everything he cherished has been taken from him. All can hear are whispers - cold and quiet, beckoning him to vengeance.But one voice rings warmer.





	Whispers in the Dark

In the abyss, whispers were his only companions.

_Good day, Your Highness!_

_Taking a walk? Let me join you._

_Excellent swordplay – you’re growing sharper every day._

_Dimitri, my boy! How do you fare?_

_I’m proud of you, my son._

They were not unfamiliar voices – not at all. In fact, he knew them more dearly than any other. Parents. Teachers. Friends. Comrades. Those who has long sunken into the earth, and those who might yet walk upon it. He could not make out their faces through the darkness – not the glimmers of their eyes, the vigor in their gaits, the whites of their smiles. He could only hear their undertones, sweet, gentle, prickling in his eardrums:

_I haven’t seen you in so long._

_You’ve grown so much!_

_It’s been ages, hasn’t it?_

_So good to see you again!_

_I wish it were under better circumstances._

So did he. He wished he could see their bright, joyful expressions; share a piping hot meal; embrace them with loving arms. But all he could do was listen to the murmurs:

_I miss you so much._

_It hurts having to leave._

_If only things had been different._

_If only we were still here._

_You know who’s to blame, don’t you?_

Of course he did. He’d always suspected. But now he knew.

_It’s her._

_She did this._

_She has to pay._

_She **will** pay._

_You’ll do it, won’t you?_

_You’ll grant us peace._

_All you have to do is kill her._

_Kill her._

** _Kill her._ **

Dimitri thrust his head against the wall. The pounding in his skull steadied. The pace of his breath shortened. The mutterings dissipated, replaced solely by the throbbing beat of his heart. But still, he could not see.

The hole he had been tossed into led to the underworld. Musk and mold oozed from the walls, clinging to stone like disease to a leper. The air tasted of human waste and stagnant rust. Every surface was as coarse as sandpaper, tearing at his worn skin with each touch or step. The sole trace of illumination came from the sliver of light through the door frame at the end of the hall, perceptible only if he dared to prod his head out through the iron-cast grid gate and stare down the corridor. There were no guards – there was no need. He was in a pit of absolute solitude, stygian and lifeless. Not even the insects dared to feed in this hollow place. And even if he could somehow work up the moral will to attempt an escape, there was no way he could muster the physical strength needed to execute it.

Dimitri slumped to the floor, a hand running through his greasy, ragged mop of hair. Prisoner’s garb clung to his skin, tattered and stained. The scabs and scars scattered across his body ached with every movement. He hadn’t a moment’s peace since he first arrived – no, since long before that. He couldn’t remember the last time he hadn’t heard the whispers, speaking so gently and persuasively into his ears.

He ran through the names and faces in his head. His father. His stepmother. Glenn. Nearly every precious knight or mentor he ever knew. And now, Professor Byleth… all gone. Tossed to the winds of history. Names to be recorded and forgotten. Yet they called out to him, begging, pleading: _Save us. Save us. Save us._

Metal shuddered from down the hall, and brightness flooded in, blinding him. He put a hand to his eyes as his retinas adjusted to the sudden intake of light, his teeth gritted in wincing pain. By the time his vision adjusted properly, he could make out three distinct figures – two thickly-armored knights bearing torches, and one glowering witch, her sinister leer lit by the dancing flames.

“Ah, my dear Prince,” said Cornelia breathily. “Doing as lovely as always, I see.”

“Cornelia…” Dimitri slurred, unable to hide the poison in his tone.

“You know, I rather think that these quarters are a mite dreary for you, no?” asked Cornelia, surveying the rough-hewn confines and fluid-soaked corners. “Hardly befitting one of such royal stature.”

“…And what would _you_ know of ‘royal stature’?” Dimitri spat, his throat clogged with phlegm.

“Why, enough to understand that velvet is softer than stone,” said Cornelia, lightly stroking the craggy walls. “It would be a wondrous change of scenery, wouldn’t it?”

Dimitri knew exactly what she was insinuating. Compliance in exchange for comfort. All he had to do was sign an order legitimizing the Dukedom, throw his support behind the Empire, and abandon his quest, and he would be brought out of the cold shadows and into fatuous luxury. He would rather choke on his own bile.

“What torturous implements have you brought this time?” he scoffed, not giving Cornelia the dignity of eye contact. “Chains? Spikes? Thumbscrews?”

“Oh, come now, _Your Highness_,” she replied, the address poisoned with saccharine, “I am not a villain. I am simply intelligent enough to yield when I witness an empire’s worth of blades barreling towards me.”

“And sacrifice any trace of honor within your bones?”

Cornelia crossed her arms and tutted disappointedly. “Honestly, ‘honor’? A word invented by foolish men to grant themselves a modicum of pride in exchange for their intelligence. Tell me, prince – where was honor at Duscur? At Garreg Mach?”

Rage surged through his weary bones. But reason, slamming through his brain, stopped his movements – he didn’t have the power to so much as strike at Cornelia, let alone defeat the three guards.

The sound of clinking came from several meters away, followed by a limp thud. Cornelia faced the noise and nodded before turning back to Dimitri. “I’ll ask you once more: don’t you wish to leave this fetid place? I can make it happen in an instant. With a mere signature, you would be free of this chasm of dirt and despair. I offer the chance earnestly – I am a woman of my word, after all.”

Dimitri didn’t have to consider the possibility for even a millisecond. There was a high chance that Cornelia would execute him immediately afterwards – and even if she didn’t, it would be a betrayal of his kingdom, his duty, and his own spirit. “Take your quill and toss it to the winds. I’d cover the parchment with red long before the ink of my pen.”

He expected Cornelia to grow purple with indignation, but instead she chuckled lightly. “If that is how it will be, dear prince, then you can gladly sign it in your blood.”

Dimitri’s lips twisted into a smirk. “Who said it would be mine?”

Cornelia finally seemed to tire of the conversation. “Very well. If civility proves unsatisfactory, then we shall have no recourse but… rudeness.” The last word glided off her tongue, simmering in Dimitri’s ears.

Cornelia snapped her fingers, and the knights began marching away. Her face slowly dimmed and melted into the shadows. “You may puff that starved chest of yours, but you are no proud lion, Your Lowliness… why, if anything, you belong with the rats who scuttle about the sewers, feasting upon thrice-eaten scraps.”

And with that finally barb, she fully faded from sight, once again leaving Dimitri in darkness.

He remained motionless. Cornelia did little to sink his mood – her threats were unchanging from one day to the next – but he was embittered nonetheless. Wrapped in silence and gloom, without a trace of any sensation save the rugged surface he dwelt upon and the dull echo in his chest. Time was immaterial and immeasurable, days melting into eternities without end. And through the noiselessness, the whispers inevitably returned:

_What kind of food do you like, Your Highness?_

_It’s so cold._

_Kill her._

_I have… no… regrets……_

_Aw geez, did you break another training dummy?_

_Farewell, my son._

_Kill her._

_I will always love you._

_You’re like a brother to me, you know?_

_Hello, Dimitri._

_I can’t see anything._

_Kill her._

_Your Highness…_

Voices meandered through his brain, intensifying in volume. How he longed to dispel them; to do away with every last trace of thought and suffer in blissful quiet. But so long as he lay embroiled here, chained to the shadows, the whispers would hound him.

“Your Highness…?”

…No.

That wasn’t a whisper… it was a call. Real. Tangible. Spoken from the lips of another human being – one that he knew better than he knew himself. Dimitri put his ear to the wall, listening for the source.

“Are you there?”

Dimitri had long grown used to a lack of feeling. But for the first time in ages, something stirred within his chest as he recognized the owner of the voice. “De…Dedue…?”

He could hear a sigh of relief. “You are conscious, then. I feared that they might have done something to you.” His voice was muffled, yet close – on the other side of the cell wall.

Dimitri pressed his palms to the stone in disbelief. “Is… Is that really you?”

“Yes, Your Highness. I am right here.”

A straightforward, polite response, without a trace of nonchalance… it really was Dedue. Dimitri pushed his scalp against the wall; the insides of his ribcage rippled with a tingly sensation, his diaphragm felt fuller, his heart pumped blood faster – from his dried, sunken eyes suddenly poured tears.

“Dedue… I-I feared you might be dead. Gone. Like… like…”

“Say no more, Your Highness.” Dedue’s voice was the same as ever – stern and soft. Bristling with steadfast concern. “I am not certain how long you have been here. But rest assured I am alive.”

Dimitri heaved, gulping air with every breath. “How… why…?”

“The Dukedom’s forces captured me only a short time ago,” said Dedue. “I thought resistance against such large forces by myself would be unwise. They quickly brought me here – though for what reason, I am uncertain.”

Dimitri composed himself, righting his body against the wall. “Indeed… why would they put us in the same cell block, so close to one another? If they mean to break my spirit, reuniting me with my dearest friend is surely not the way to go about it.”

“Perhaps that is exactly why they have done it,” said Dedue. “If you bring allies close together, it hurts all the greater when they are torn apart.”

“…I won’t let them,” said Dimitri, his fists clenching. “I would sooner perish than see you slaughtered.”

“Do not speak of such things, Your Highness,” said Dedue strictly. “It is my duty to protect you with my life. Not the other way around.”

In spite of the situation, Dimitri laughed. “How many times have we had this conversation…? It’s as if I’ve been thrust into the past.”

“I sometimes wish that were the case,” said Dedue solemnly. “When I imagine the present… I can hardly imagine a grimmer outcome.”

Silence hung in the air. Dimitri pushed his back against the wall, around where Dedue’s voice sounded from. It sounded foolish, and it was likely him imagining things, but… it felt a little warmer than before.

“Dedue?”

“Yes, Your Highness?”

Dimitri swallowed. “Please, bear with me… in this hell, you are all that I have.”

“Of course, Your Highness,” Dedue replied. “I only ask that you do the same.”

Dimitri smiled. “You needn’t inquire.”

The whispers lingered.

But they were a little quieter now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first stab at a longer FE fic. Not sure how frequently it will update - the schedule will probably be a bit erratic, as I have other stuff on my plate already, but I do want to update this one fairly regularly if possible.  
Just an FYI, I've only played the Blue Lions route, so if any world/character details are off it's probably because of that. Or because I'm a dummy who forgot. If anything is off, don't hesitate to correct me.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
Follow me on Twitter: @DivineNoodles


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